3 min to read

Angler Marketing – Facebook and The Professional Bass Angler part 2

Now that we have discussed the importance of having a Facebook fan page, let’s review the ways in which to create that page.

You can create a fan page one of two ways. The first way is to start from scratch. Get on to Facebook, create an account, follow the prompts via the page-builder, add some photos, add yourself as an admin (you need to do this in order to create posts and update your fan page) and then you are done. Well sort of. You then have to promote your page to build your fan base. You can do this via your personal FB page, word of mouth, and your web site. Facebook also provides a couple of options to help you build your audience via your current email contacts or by creating an ad that is posted on Facebook to attract potential fans (this service is not free).

The other way to create a fan page is to take your existing personal page and convert it to a fan page. The benefit of doing it this way is that all your current friends now become likes on your fan page. So if you have 2,000 friends…BAM! Now you have 2,000 likes/fans. Prior to doing this you can send out a status update advising your friends of the changes you are making. This gives them the chance to unlike your page once it goes live if they don’t want to follow your fishing career. It is important to note that creating your fan page this way will delete your personal page. None of your pictures or timeline posts will migrate to the new fan page. If you want to have a personal page just for your friends and family you will have to create a completely new page and send out new friend requests. Before you convert your personal page, make sure you save all of your Facebook data to your computer (Facebook prompts you to do this during the fan page building process). This way you can have a list of all your friends and all the photos you had on your original page. Second, you will want to change your fan page to Joe Blow Fishing (or something similar) versus just Joe Blow; this way people can distinguish your fan page from your personal page. In order to process the name change, you will have to send a request via email to Facebook and then wait a mandatory period of 10-14 days for the change to take effect. One other important piece of information to note, if you create both a fan page and personal page this way, is that you will have to create two separate log-in user names and passwords. Creating your fan page this way is more cumbersome than creating a page from scratch but the benefits of starting out with a solid fan base outweigh the time consuming process.

Remember, a social networking page should complement an angler’s marketing, brand and website, but not replace it. A professional angler should use all the tools available to him or her in order to promote themselves and their sponsors. In future articles we will discuss the importance of tournament jerseys, boat & vehicle wraps, angler videos, fishing reports, and writing articles. So until next time, stay focused, fish hard and I’ll see you out on the water.

Here at BHQ we provide Bass anglers with the correct tools to get the attention of potential sponsors and make you stand out from the crowd. Helping anglers brand themselves and take their fishing career to the next level is our specialty.

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